1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wire arranging device which is favorably used in an electric car provided with a battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an electric car which is driven using an electric motor, a hybrid car which is driven using both an engine and an electric motor, and so on, a power supply device is mounted as a driving source for the electric motor. This power supply device includes a battery assembly which is so constructed that a plurality of batteries each provided with a positive electrode (a plus terminal) at one end, and a negative electrode (a minus terminal) at the other end are superposed on one another alternately in opposite directions, and a wire arranging device (or a bus bar module) which is mounted on this battery assembly (see, for example,).
FIG. 5 is a plan view of an essential part of a conventional wire arranging device, and FIG. 6 is a plan view of a battery assembly provided with the conventional wire arranging device.
As shown in FIG. 5, a wire arranging device 501 is formed by plastic molding, as a whole, and includes voltage detecting wire containing parts 503, a terminal containing room 509 for containing plus terminals 505 and minus terminals 507 of batteries, and voltage detecting wire guiding parts 511 for interconnecting the voltage detecting wire containing parts 503 and the terminal containing room 509 (see, for example,).
The terminal containing room 509 is an assembly including a plurality of containing chambers 513, and has a box-like shape in which respective upper faces of the containing chambers 513 are opened. Each of the containing chambers 513 is formed with a plus terminal hole 515 for rendering the plus terminal 505 of the battery to pass it through, and a minus terminal hole 517 for rendering the minus terminal 507 of the adjacent battery to pass it through, in a bottom part thereof.
In a battery assembly 519, the plus terminal 505 and the minus terminal 507 are coupled by means of a bus bar 521 which is formed of an electrically conductive metal plate, thereby to form a circuit for connecting the battery and the adjacent battery in series. In the same manner, the plus terminals 505 and the minus terminals 507 in all the other terminal containing rooms 509 are coupled by means of the bus bars 521, thereby to form circuits for connecting all the batteries in series, and high direct current voltage can be obtained.
In the wire arranging device 501, voltage detecting wires 525 are connected to the bus bars 521 in the respective containing chambers 513 by way of voltage detecting terminals 523. For the purpose of guiding out the voltage detecting wire 525 per each of the batteries, the voltage detecting wire guiding part 511 is formed between the voltage detecting wire containing part 503 and the terminal containing room 509. The voltage detecting wire 525 is arranged in this voltage detecting wire guiding part 511 so as not to be directly contacted with the other voltage detecting wires 525.
The voltage detecting wire guiding part 511 of the containing chamber 513 which is the nearest to a first connector 527, out of a plurality of the containing chambers 513, is connected to the voltage detecting wire containing part 503 which is the nearest to this containing chamber 513, out of a plurality of the voltage detecting wire containing parts 503. Then, the voltage detecting wire guiding part 511 of the containing chamber 513 which is the second nearest to the first connector 527 is connected to the voltage detecting wire containing part 503 which is the second nearest to this containing chamber 513. By repeating this, a plurality of the voltage detecting wires 525 are orderly arranged from the terminal containing room 509 to the voltage detecting wire containing parts 503, without crossing one another.
As shown in FIG. 6, the battery assembly 519 includes a pair of a first terminal row 529 and a second terminal row 531 in parallel, in which the plus terminals 505 and the minus terminals 507 of the batteries are alternately arranged. In the first terminal row 529 and the second terminal row 531, a set of the plus terminal 505 and the adjacent minus terminal 507 are connected by means of the above described bus bar 521. In the wire arranging device 501 which is provided on the first terminal row 529, the voltage detecting wires 525 are connected to the first connector 527 located near the first terminal row 529, and in the wire arranging device 533 which is provided on the second terminal row 531, the voltage detecting wires 525 are connected to the second connector 535 located near the second terminal row 531. The first connector 527 and the second connector 535 are connected to a battery monitoring unit, which is not shown, thereby to transmit voltage data of the respective bus bars 521.